Conventional small pitch chains have been used for many years in various applications For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,813,224 to Blase and 4,570,437 to Moritz disclose small pitch conveyor chains which are used in energy conductor applications such as, for example, guiding energy conduits (cables or hoses) from a fixed attachment point to a moveable consuming load. U S. Pat. Nos. 4,758,209 and 4,758,210 to Ledvina, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,550 to Avramidis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,806 to Collins, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,551,764 to Muller all generally disclose power transmission chains which are not used for material handling purposes such as the chain of the present invention. Also of interest, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,579,219 to Burkhardt, 4,490,970 to Cure, and 3,759,035 to Schmidberger disclose various chain configurations for conveying product, but none have the performance capability of the narrow pitch articulated chain and links therefor of the present invention for transporting and transferring small products.
Thus, it is evident from the prior art that others have attempted to provide a conveyor chain capable of facilitating the easy transfer of items being carried thereby (such as cans, cartons, bottles, jars and the like in suitable packaging containers, as well as unpackaged products such as crackers, cookies, and cakes) by using links with relatively small pitch diameters and providing for the products carried by the chain to be end-transferred off the chain. However, until the narrow pitch articulated chain and links therefor of the present invention, it was not feasible to transfer the product being transported by a conveyor chain across a small diameter nose bar other than by using a fabric or flexible type conveyor belt.